This report reviews results from the first implementation of the International Early Learning and Development Assessment (IDELA)in the United States. Save the Children staff assessed 157 children in schools where Save the Children implements its Early Steps to School Success (ESSS) programs in rural areas of California, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Early Steps for School Success (ESSS) is a Save the Children U.S.Program aiming to improve early childhood development through home visitation. This research is not an impact evaluation of the ESSS program, but utilizes Save the Children’s presence in these underserved communities to explore differences in early childhood development and investigate what may contribute to the difficulties children face and the learning gaps that may exist.

The IDELA results, in combination with a caregiver survey,paint a fairly positive picture of children’s learning and development in the schools surveyed, and highlight the importance of learning opportunities in school and at home. The findings show that attending an ECD program, spending more time at an ECD center and engaging in more learning activities with parents were all correlated with higher IDELA scores.